Coming Out
by ijustkeepswimming
Summary: Charlie and Joey come out to Ruby about their relationship


"Hey! I got your text. What's wrong?" Joey asked, deeply concerned when she saw Charlie curled up on the couch. Gone was the vibrant but slightly overwhelmed woman she had kissed goodbye only two hours before. Rushing towards her, Joey sat down. Charlie heaped herself into Joey's embrace without speaking and sobbed. Joey stroked her hair and attempted to decipher the problem but could only make out the odd word such as 'Ruby', 'kissing', 'us', 'car', 'yelling' and the occasional hiccup. It didn't take a genius to work out what had occurred and Joey instantly felt terrible. She hugged Charlie close and tried to think of something to say. Her instinct was to apologise. It was always her first port of call and she couldn't help feeling that if she hadn't barged into Charlie's life then the poor woman wouldn't be in this position in the first place. Charlie looked up at her with red rimmed eyes. She sighed heavily.

"You do know that I meant everything I said last night, don't you? I'm not messing you around," she said.

Joey nodded a little uncertainly. Part of her kept expecting Charlie to reach each hurdle they would inevitably face, stop the race, turn around and run back to the starting line. But then, at moments like this, when she was looking at her so imploringly, allowing herself to be held and seen so vulnerable, she knew it was real.

"I know," Joey said. "You told me you love me and I believe you. If you didn't, why else would we be sitting here now?"

At first, Charlie had been cautious. She'd said she _thought_ she loved her but as the night had worn on and they had lost themselves in physical and emotional intimacy, somehow everything had clicked into place and she'd been able to declare her love more firmly, more definitely. And she'd been glad because it had enabled her to stand up for herself, for Joey and for them as a couple when Ruby had started shouting the odds. Charlie gazed up at her, wiped her eyes and smiled. She leant in and kissed Joey's lips just once. Even the small, chaste contact evoked a reaction in both of them. Joey leant back against the couch cushions and brought Charlie with her.

"I just wish I'd had a chance to talk to her properly," Charlie mused. "She was so upset. No, she was so angry. She made me feel like I'd done something terrible. All I did was fall in love. And that's a good thing! I mean, she's been telling me for years that I never open up to people, that I never let anyone in and now finally I have but because it's not someone conventional, someone she wanted it to be, she wants me to close myself up again and be alone. It's not a crime to be... whatever it is I am. She was acting like I'd declared men were evil or something and that I'd 'turned gay'. I don't know what's happened to me. Doesn't she realise that I've been freaking out about this as much as she is? More so, even! I mean..."

Charlie trailed off and realised that she'd been ranting for a good few minutes. She cast a glance at Joey who was smiling at her. She blushed. Joey continued to smile affectionately.

"Why are you smiling at me?" Charlie asked with the hint of a smile herself.

Joey stopped smiling and feigned seriousness. She shook her head.

"It doesn't matter," she said.

"It does."

"No, really."

She didn't want to have a conversation just now about the thoughts that had been running through her head. They weren't just about how adorable Charlie was when she was rambling.

"Tell me," Charlie pleaded.

"It's not important," Joey insisted.

Charlie twisted slightly in Joey's arms and brought her face up close.

"Do I have to kiss it out of you?" she asked, grinning.

"Yes please!" Joey laughed.

Charlie leant closer and captured Joey's lips with hers. Joey felt a thrill rush through her. She wondered if in years to come, Charlie's kisses would still make her dizzy. She wondered if in years to come, they would still be kissing. Her hand traced patterns on Charlie's hip as their kiss deepened and she pouted when Charlie slowly pulled her mouth away.

"Now will you tell me?" she asked.

"I need further convincing," Joey grinned.

Charlie kissed her again, planting delicate kisses from her mouth down to her neck.

"I'm going to lose the power of speech," Joey breathed, catching hold of Charlie's free hand. Her other hand had wound itself in Joey's hair.

"Then you'd better tell me now," Charlie said, an edge of teasing impatience in her voice.

"I was just thinking," Joey started. "Please don't be offended... but, well, when I realised Ruby had taken it badly I thought you'd... I thought..."

"You thought I'd break up with you," Charlie finished.

Joey nodded silently and kept her head down. She focussed on a piece of fluff on her jeans. Charlie tilted her chin up and looked into her eyes.

"If I'm being totally honest, Joey, so did I," Charlie admitted.

Neither woman looked away from the other.

"But when it comes down to it, the thought of losing you... It's unbearable. I love you too much."

Joey smiled.

"I love you too."

They kissed again.

"Would you stop that?" said a loud, adolescent, angry voice.

The women sprung apart and Charlie jumped up from her seat. Ruby stood there, eyes blazing, flitting between her sister and her sister's apparent new lover. Joey remained frozen on the couch, observing and not wanting to interfere.

"Ruby," Charlie began but her sister didn't want to listen.

She wanted to yell.

"Is this how it's going to be now? Every time I see you, you're going to have your tongue rammed down Joey's throat?" Ruby demanded.

"We didn't know you were there!" Charlie argued.

"I don't want to see my sister making out with a girl! I don't want to see my sister making out with anyone but especially not a girl!" Ruby raged.

"Why does it even make a difference?" Charlie argued.

"Because it's not real, Charlie. You're lonely or flattered or, I don't know, temporarily insane or something!"

"Would you give me some credit?" Charlie shouted. "Do you really think I'd do this if it wasn't real?"

"I don't know, Charlie! I don't know why you do half the things you do," Ruby said. "I don't know why you dyed your hair pink when you were fifteen. I don't know why you're so possessive over your stupid salad bowl. I don't know why you have sex with inappropriate men when you know it doesn't make you feel good about yourself. And now I don't know why you've convinced yourself that you want to jump in the sack with Joey."

Charlie felt like she wanted the world to swallow her up. Ruby had said all of those things to hurt her and to embarrass her in front of Joey who was sitting meekly and thoughtfully on the couch. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out so she closed it. She tried again and failed once more, resulting in her looking like she was merely impersonating a goldfish. She sighed. Ruby was never going to understand where she was coming from. Fighting tears, she sank back down in her seat and held her head in her hands. All the while she was aware of Ruby standing over her and glaring. Beside her, she felt Joey shift quietly.

"Ruby, you really weren't meant to find out the way you did," she said calmly. "Charlie loves you more than anything. The most important thing to her when we decided to be together was that you were the first person to know. She wanted to sit down with you today and talk about it properly. She never wanted to fight with you."

Ruby looked at Joey for a few moments and Charlie peeked out from between her fingers.

"So please, can we all just have an adult conversation about it now?" Joey asked.

Ruby shuffled her feet and reluctantly sat down on the opposite chair. Charlie sat up, her eyes flitting between her girlfriend and her sister.

"So..." Ruby started. "How the hell did all this happen? I mean, I know you liked Charlie from the beginning, Joey but I never in a million years thought that... you know."

"Neither did either of us," Joey admitted. "We were as shocked as you."

"So, when?"

"I realised I had feelings for Joey after she moved in here. I don't really know when but it all became glaringly obvious when we nearly kissed on a day out on Alf's boat. Then, after Joey was abducted, we really did kiss. And it kind of went from there."

"Wait, so you've been seeing each other all this time?" Ruby said, trying not to get angry again.

"No!" Charlie protested quickly. "I freaked out. We went to see Dad, remember? I said this earlier."

Ruby nodded. Charlie had told her that the trip to see their father had been prompted by Charlie's inability to handle her attraction to Joey.

"But, Charlie, just because someone kisses you, it doesn't mean..."

"I kissed her."

"Oh."

"Hang on; the night before all that happened, you were on a date with Hugo."

Joey shifted uncomfortably. She still didn't know what had happened on that date. She didn't know if she wanted to find out exactly how far Charlie would go to fight her feelings either.

"I was avoiding Joey," Charlie said. "I was avoiding myself. And it was probably the worst date in history. All I did was go on and on and on about Joey. Hugo was bored to tears."

Joey grinned. Maybe she did want to know the details!

"So, you've been together since we got home?" Ruby asked.

"No," Charlie said. "I told Joey I couldn't be with her. See, this is where you've got it all wrong, Ruby. You spoke to me earlier like I was doing this for fun or for attention. It couldn't be further from the truth. Nobody would choose to be this way... whatever 'this way' is. I don't want to make a statement. I don't want to walk in a parade and wave a banner. That's not what any of this is about. I can't help how I feel and I can't help that it automatically has implications on who I am."

Charlie cast a glance at Joey who was watching her intently as if she were reading her some gripping story book.

"All I want is what anyone wants from life – to love and be loved. And I've been lucky enough to find that," Charlie continued, making eye contact with Ruby and hoping that her words would ring true. "Okay, so the person I've found it with might not be who we assumed it might be. This might not be conventional. But it's real and it's wonderful and I'm happier with Joey than I've ever been in my entire life. I don't even deserve it, Ruby. I've been so mean to her. I've messed her around, knocked her back, told her 'no' when I really meant 'yes' so many times that I've lost count but she always came back for more and she always loved me no matter what."

Ruby shifted in her seat and looked between them. Maybe she could get her head around it for the sake of her sister. Who else in the world did she have aside from Charlie? And Joey was nice. She was female, but she was nice. And if she adored Charlie as much as she was being led to believe then at least Ruby could rest assured that her sister would be taken care of. And she would need taking care of. Being in a lesbian relationship in Summer Bay wasn't exactly going to be an easy task. Charlie was obviously frightened and she was going to need support. As if reading her sister's thoughts, Charlie continued.

"I need you with me on this, Ruby. I can't go out there and be brave and strong knowing that people are whispering about me and looking at me if my own sister is judging me too. Please don't abandon me."

Ruby sighed.

"You really, truly love each other?" she asked.

They nodded and held hands for emphasis. Ruby watched the interaction. She stood up, feeling awkward and shrugged.

"Then, welcome to the family, I guess," she said to Joey.

She offered out her arms to Charlie, who bounded into them and hugged her tight. Joey stood and accepted a hug after Charlie had finished.

"I'd better get back to school," Ruby said. "I've already missed two class thanks to this. I expect you to excuse my absence!"

Charlie chuckled and nodded.

"Oh, and try not to make out every single time you're near each other. I'm cool but I don't need to see that every single time I see you," she added with the hint of a smile.

"Check," Joey replied with an affirmative nod as Ruby headed out through the kitchen.

Alone, the women turned to each other. Charlie sank back into Joey's arms.

"Well, that went better than I thought," she said.

Joey nodded. Charlie felt much less tense than she had earlier.

"But seriously... pink hair?" Joey teased.

"Don't ask," Charlie replied.

Joey grinned and bent her head. They kissed, letting it develop more deeply in a matter of moments.

"Guys! What did I just say?" Ruby said, exasperated.

They pulled apart, flushed.

"We thought you'd gone!" Charlie protested.

The girl either had the worst or the best timing in the world.

"I forgot my hairbrush. Honestly, get a room!"

She marched out. Joey eased herself up from the couch and took Charlie's hand.

"That sounds like a fantastic idea," she said, leading the way.


End file.
